Movable partition walls are often used to divide interior building spaces into smaller spaces. Examples of such use includes convention halls, large rooms in hotels, school class rooms and gymnasia, work areas in factories, etc. to name a few! Such walls may be formed merely from fabric or other like material, and take the form of curtains which may be drawn closed or opened. Other, more durable types of movable wall partitions are made of rigid material, extending from floor to ceiling and having heat and/or sound insulating materials between a rigid wall-forming exterior. Typically, such wall partition systems of the rigid-type move horizontally. Such types of movable walls require storage space (in plan) to accommodate the wall panels when not in use. The wall panels may be very heavy and impose differing loads on the support structure, which may be ceiling or roof mounted, as the panels are moved, with the loads increasing as the panels are retracted to their storage positions.
As a result of the foregoing, vertically collapsible partition systems have been developed. Many such systems incorporate a pantograph configuration similar to that of baby gates, in which a series of beams or segments are pivotally linked together to provide a series of similar diamond-shaped structures along the length of the frame and transverse to the vertical plane to be occupied by the extended structure. The structures are downwardly extended by gravity and as a consequence may not fully extend to provide a vertically planar surface. Additionally, there may be gaps between the bottom of the fully extended structure and the floor.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved seal structure between a bottom of such vertically collapsible partitions and the floor in order to provide an improved seal therebetween.